Power back on at JVS

By JON BEHM

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP -- The source of yesterday's power outage at the Lorain County Joint Vocational School that closed the school for the day is still unknown, but it has been narrowed down to a couple possibilities.

"We think that the outage was caused by a problem with the main 2000 amp switch gear," said Deputy Superintendent Jerry Pavlik. "Another possible cause is that one of our chiller compressors seized."

The power outage, which occurred about 7:30 a.m. yesterday, caused classes to be canceled. However, with power back now, classes will continue as usual today.

Pavlik said that they will have a company come out within the next few days to check out the amp switch gear.

"The switch gear requires some specific equipment," Pavlik said. "Unfortunately, there are only a few companies that have that equipment and they are all out of state."

Pavlik also mentioned that the chiller compressor, which uses water to help cool the building, is on lockdown and they will have a company in to look at it today.

"We aren't sure if the chiller is the problem, but if it is a possibility, why risk it," Pavlik said.

JVS was able to restore power and phone capabilities for a brief period of time about 8:30 a.m. yesterday, which allowed them to contact Oberlin City about the electricity issue.

"We had the electric department run multiple tests," said Oberlin City Manager Eric Norenberg.

"The power was flowing to the transmitter and to the facility. That meant that it was an internal issue for JVS."

School Superintendent Glenn Faircloth said it was fortunate that the power outage happened when it did.

"There was no one hurt," Faircloth said.

"The potential for harm could have been a lot greater if the power had gone out later than when it did," he said.

Faircloth also mentioned they would be monitoring the situation throughout last night to ensure that the school day would flow uninterrupted today.

"We want to make sure that if anything goes wrong, we catch it early," Faircloth said.